I just came across a "Gimme teh codez"-type question here, and a quick net search showed the same username over in Microsoft's ASP.NET forums posting the same low-quality questions as s/he posts here (including this one) and for almost all of them the answer was "You'd understand it if you actually did the basic tutorials". This specific question was first posted over in ASP.NET and got a suitable answer (even after a follow-on "Gimme moar codez"!) yet s/he still saw fit to post here.

I downvoted and voted to close as Off-Topic with a custom comment about it already having had an answer elsewhere, but is the user worth flagging to the mods, or will the automated system hopefully soon catch up with them?

"... or will the automated system hopefully soon catch up with them?" -- No. There are too many of them and not enough of us -- folks dedicated to curating the site. And so without enough active and effective curation, vampires will continue to flourish. There is no such thing as SO karma.
– Hovercraft Full Of EelsJan 7 at 1:06

@HovercraftFullOfEels I think you're taking Ken Y-N's question in a more existential sense than they intended. Regarding the question: if you mean could they get question-banned temporarily, it's certainly likely if they keep asking low quality questions that get downvoted and closed. However, I don't think their posts on other forums have relevance in the eyes of the SO system, but it sounds like they will continue to ask low-quality questions. You could raise a mod flag, but I don't think it's likely to go anywhere because the situation is too nongeneralizable.
– GrahamJan 7 at 1:32

6

Whether a question is answered offsite should make no difference to whether said question is on-topic enough for SO. What would make such a question worthy for closure here would be if it shows no attempt at solving the problem nor any research effort. Such questions are quite common here on SO, unfortunately, and regardless of if the question also has been asked elsewhere, the procedure is the same - just downvote and VTC, again and again and again.
– CertainPerformanceJan 7 at 2:44

3

@Graham: yes, the question is somewhat existential to me, however I don't think that I've taken this bit too far. I've been on this site for over 8 years some of that time answering questions but most of it attempting to contribute to site curation, but I feel that most of that effort is futile given the ever-increasing numbers of very low-quality questions that are posted, despite site modifications, despite ever increasing attempts by the site to encourage learning and understanding the site rules. Again, there is no karma
– Hovercraft Full Of EelsJan 7 at 2:50

@HovercraftFullOfEels I'm not arguing about the accuracy of your statements, but I'm not sure what your purpose is in commenting here. Are you suggesting this question itself is a futile effort and should not have been asked? I am interested in hearing what you have to say. What is this karma you keep mentioning? Reddit karma? Do you think the situation could be fixed here, and how so? (Admittedly I ask too many questions at once; perhaps it is better to discuss in chat, or just ignore me if you like, but I am not at 1000 on SO yet, so I cannot create a chatroom.)
– GrahamJan 7 at 3:28

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What @CertainPerformance said, but I'd like to add that if the ASP.NET forums are responding that way, then either they have no idea what they're getting themself into by coming here, they do have an idea and in fact have a lot of faith in our Welcome Wagon, or they're just so desperate they couldn't care less.
– BoltClock♦Jan 7 at 4:54

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Side note, based on the title here I was under the impression this was like a case I witnessed years ago - someone taking off-site questions that were not theirs and reposting them verbatim, proper English and all, and responding to answers acting as if they were their own when they obviously weren't due to the apparently sudden deterioration in English language skills. It was very bizarre indeed. This, though, seems believable in comparison - just someone doing whatever they can to get their questions answered.
– BoltClock♦Jan 7 at 4:56